Circular knitting machine with pattern wheels



May 26, 1970 L. MISHCON ETAL 3,513,666

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE WITH PATTERN WHEELS Filed Sept. 25, 1967 INVENTOR. Lester Mishcon @Mi' Q 7 ATTORNEY WITNESS; am 40412646 United States Patent O 3,513,666 CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE WITH PATTERN WHEELS Lester Mishcon, Miami Beach, Fla., assignor to The Singer Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Sept. 25, 1967, Ser. No. 670,097 Int. Cl. D04b /76 U.S. Cl. 66-50 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pattern wheel circular knitting machine is described, which machine provides double the production and patterning capability of equivalent-sized prior art machines. Such features are brought about by the utilization, in a pattern wheel machine, of two-buttneedles, a first butt of each such needle being for selective only engagement with pattern wheels, and the second butt of each such needle being for engagement only with cams associated with each pattern wheel, the cams associated with each pattern wheel including a raise cam for placing the needles in such positions that the pattern wheel may eventually selectively operate on the respective first butts, a stitch cam for lowering needles as they move beyond the pattern wheel and a placer cam between the raise and stitch cams. Such practice permits the pattern Wheels and associated cams to be packed around the periphery of the knitting machine, with attendant high cloth production and patterning versatility. The raise and placer cams are guarded to permit the machine to operate at higher speed with less attention and to thereby further increase productivity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates to improvements in and to independent needle circular knitting machines, and in particular to improvements in and to such machines that employ slotted pattern wheels for the production of patterned cloth, such wheels being arranged in a predetermined manner with jacks for the selective actuation of the machine needles.

Description of the prior art Known prior knitting machines having pattern wheels are as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,006,821, issued July 21, 1935 (see in particular FIG. 4 thereof). Except for minor modifications thereto, the pattern wheel machine of U.S. Pat. No. 2,006,821 is still in manufacture today by the instant assignee.

It had long been recognized that there is a practical limit to the number of pattern wheel feed stations that may be accommodated about a given diameter circular knitting machine. For example, with a 26 -inch machine (i.e. cylinder diameter is 26 inches) and 2 /2 inch pattern wheels, the maximum number of feed stations thought to be possible was approximately 36 in number, with each of the feed stations occupying approximately 3.14 inches of cylinder circumference. In such a machine, needles at each station are raised by a raise cam for eventual selective elevation by a pattern wheel. To pack more feed stations about the needle cylinder, thereby to increase cloth production on such machine, has heretofore meant, in efliect, to sharpen the steepness of the raise cams, and of the pattern Wheel raise angles. This however is impractical for the reason that the above noted machine already employs a cam raise angle of about 57 degrees, and a pattern wheel raise angle of about degrees. T o exceed about 57 degrees of cam raise angle is to encourage needle butt breakage; to

3,513,666 Patented May 26, 1970 exceed about 35 degrees of pattern wheel raise angle is to encourage jamming-and eventual breakageof the needle butts within the pattern wheel slots, since such butts and slots cooperate like intermeshing gears, and therefore their respective pitches require control within close limits.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To avoid the impasse of a fixed number of feed stations on a circular pattern wheel machine of a given diameter, as brought about by practical limits on the raise angles of raise cams and pattern wheels, the present invention proposes the following:

Relocating the pattern wheels to their own cam free raceway; and utilizing two butts for needle raising purposes-one such butt being cooperative with the raise cams and the other such butt being cooperative, in tandem, with the pattern wheels, the butt which cooperates with the raise cams also being cooperative with stitch cams and with placer cams which are located between the raise and stitch cams.

Such a practice permits of acceptable cam and pattern wheel raise angles, say 57 degrees and 35 degrees respectively, but allows the formerly required 3.14 circumferential cylinder inches to be compressed to about 1.4 circumferential cylinder inches, thereby permitting of about 60 feed stations about a 26-inch machine (2 /z-inch pattern wheels), and permitting attendantly about double the cloth production as has been heretofore possible with a pattern wheel machine of equivalent diameter.

Aside from the matter of doubling cloth production, the invention also intrinsically provides the capability for greater patterning within the cloth so produced. That is, since machines incorporating the invention have a greater number of pattern wheels, than do equivalentsized prior art machines, more pattern wheel slots are now available to influence any given needle during a single sweep of the needle cylinder, and hence pattern versatility is maximized.

In its preferred form, the invention utilizes two-butt needles, which admittedly are well known. In the relative travel of the needles with respect to a pattern wheel feed station, each lower needle butt initially meets a raise cam, which raises the needle, relative to its corresponding slot in the pattern wheel in question, and its upper butt above the jack (if any) in such slot. Then the needle moves generally laterally for a time, without additional rise, and during this time the pattern Wheel slot corresponding with such needle moves inwardly and upwardly and any jack in the slot engages the upper needle butt to position the needle in a well known manner.

The object of the invention is to utilize more effectively the peripheral space about a circular knitting machine provided with slotted pattern wheels, whereby a greater number of feed stations than had heretofore been possible may be provided, and whereby cloth production by means of such a machine may be increased. As an added feature, the invention provides a pattern wheel cam section, dimen sionally smaller than any heretofore known, which section includes an adjustable cam for use in selectively effectively disabling the needle-selection capability of the pattern wheel of such section.

The invention will be described with reference to the figures wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a plurality of pattern wheel cam sections according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of a cam section embodying the invention, showing the means by which the pattern wheels mount, and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a pattern Wheel cam section according to the invention, being useful for describing the operation of the invention.

With reference now to the figures, the means resulting in greater cloth production, and more versatility in patterning, will be described. Before proceeding with the description, however, it is well to realize that the views of FIGS. 1 and 3 are generally from within the needle cylinder, looking past the needle cylinder to the inner faces of cam sections according to the preferred form of the invention.

A plurality of cam sections 10 (A through E) are arcuately arranged about the periphery of the cylinder (12, FIG. 2) of a circular knitting machine, and each such section 10 is provided with an upper inclined face 14 (A through E). Mounted to each inclined face 14 by means of screws 16 is a fork 18 (A through E), The works 18 (A through E). The works 18 have slots 20 for accommodating respective bolts 22 (A through E) which serve as journal bearings for respective pattern wheels 24 (A through E), the bolts 22 holding the pattern wheels to their respective forks 18 by means of respective nuts 23 (A through E).

The pattern wheels 24 are rotatable in planes parallel to the planes of their respective forks 18; and these planes form angles a with respect to the direction of relative travel of the machine needles 26. The pattern wheels 24 of adjacent cam sections are closely nested as shown in FIG. 1, with a non-working portion of the pattern wheel of one cam section overlying the plane of a working portion of the preceding stitch cam 38, that is the stitch cam of the adjacent cam section engageable by needles before such overlying wheel, and the wheels 24 extend into slots 25 in such adjacent cam sections. Each pattern Wheel 24 is provided with slots 28, skewed with respect to the plane of pattern wheel rotation; and the skewing and rotation planes are so chosen that the slots 28 may fully intermesh with the needles 26 when such slots 28 are vertically disposed and adjacent the needle cylinder 12. As above noted, it has been found that a pattern wheel rotation plane which makes an angle a, relative to the direction of needle travel, greater than about 35 degrees tends to bind and clog with needles, to the detriment not only of such needles, but of the pattern wheel itself. Each pattern wheel slots mayas is conventional be filled with a high jack 30, or with a low jack 32, or with no jack depending on whether it is desired to raise a resspective needle to knit, tuck or welt knitting height.

The illustrated cam sections 10 are each provided with a needle raise cam 34 (A through E) having a raise angle ,8 of about 57 degrees (above noted to be about the steepest raise angle practical without causing needle butt damage) and the needle 26which have respective upper and lower butts 27 and 29 respectivelyare adapted to have their butts 29 ride up, and on, each raise cam 34. The lateral length a' of the raise earns 34 is sufficiently short to permit each needle 26 to be sufiiciently rapidly raised so that its respective upper butt 27 is above, in elevation, and waiting for the pattern Wheel slot that it will eventually, an in tandem, mesh With as such slot relatively slowly comes inwardly and upwardly to meet and selectively raise the upper butt 27 of such needle.

After pattern wheel selection of the respective needles, such needles travel laterally of the cam sections 10 to engage and be lowered by either a respective stitch draw cam 38 (A through E), or a cam 40 (A through E). In the event that a needle is raised by means of a high jack 30, such needle engages its stitch cam at, say, a level K; in the event a needle is raised by means of a low jack 32, such needle engages its stitch cam at, say, a level T; in the event a needle is not raised by means of a pattern wheel jack, such needle gets lowered to welt height by means of the cam 40, which cam 40 is compressible into the section 10, in well known manner, to prevent needle butt breakage caused by needles flying out of their respective welt paths.

Each stitch draw cam 38 is adapted to ride in a respective slot 42 (A through E) of its respective cam sections 10 for stitch length determining purposes. Referring, for example, to section 10E of FIG. 1, as representative slot 42 (A through E) of its respective cam sections 10 for stitch length determining purposes. Referring, for example, to section 10E of FIG. 1, as representative of all such cam sections, a rod 44 rigidly secures to the stitch cam 38E, which rod 44 is provided with a hole for slidably acommodating a pin 46. The pin 46 secures to the section 10E, and a compression spring 48 urges the rod (and naturally the cam 38E) downwardly along the axis of the pin 46. An eccentric 50, rotatable about an axis 52 is adapted to bear against and urge the rod 44 upwardly, thereby compressing the spring 48, for stitch length setting purposes.

A manually settable placer cam 54 (A through E), for use in cancelling out all TUCK and WELT, or all WELT, selections of a given pattern wheel 24 is adapted to be cradled in a U-shaped cutout 56 (A through E), being positionable to wipe out all TUCK and WELT pattern wheel selections (see, for example, section 10C) or to wipe out all WELT pattern wheel selections (see for example, section 10D). The positioning of such cams 54, though not shown, may conventionally be by means of a pinion and ratchet, which pinion is on an axis 58, and which ratchet is on the cam 54E.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the operation of a cam section incorporating the invention will be described, with special emphasis being placed on how the number of pattern wheel feed stations about a circular knitting machine may be increased over equivalent prior art machines, whereby greater machine productivity and patterning versatility may be had. Shown are six two-butt latch type needles numbered 1 through 6, the upper butts 27 thereof having, in the description which follows, the sufiixes T, and the lower butts 29 having the suffixes B. The needle 1 is shown first entering the cam section 10 with its lower butt 1B engaging the raise cam 34, at which time its corresponding pattern wheel slot, i.e. the one having the high jack 30, is sufficiently apart from and below the upper needle butt 1T that the jack and upper needle butt do not engage. The cam 34, then, relatively rapidly (i.e. compared with the rise of the pattern wheel slot in question) drives the needle upwardly so that the needle assumes the position of the needle 2, the lower butt 2B of such needle 2 riding almost to the apex of the raise cam 34, with the upper butt 2T thereof in its corresponding pattern wheel slot (as shown) or above such slot (depending upon the angular difference between the raise cam and pattern Wheel), but in any event with the butt 2T above the jack (it any) in the slot. The cam 34 then releases the lower needle butt 2B and, as the needle cylinder 12 carries the needle 2 laterally of the section 10 to the position occupied by the needle 3, the pattern wheel slot corresponding with such needle moves to cause the jack therein to come up to engage the underside of upper needle butt 3T. With no jack in the pattern wheel slot corresponding with a given needle, the needle passes along like the needle 4, the upper butt 4T slipping out of its pattern Wheel slot as such slot moves up and away from the upper needle butt 4T, the lower butt 4B thereof ultimately engaging the cam 40 and being lowered thereby to welt height; with a high jack in the pattern wheel slot corresponding with a given needle, the needle gets carried upwardly by means of its upper butt, and passes along like the needle 5, the lower butt 5B riding just beneath a guard cam 70 until it meets and is lowered by the stitch cam 38; similarly, a low jack in the pattern wheel slot corresponding with a given needle causes such needle to pass along like the needle 6, the lower needle butt 63 being lowered by the cam 38 as the upper butt 6T of such needle slips out of its corresponding pattern wheel slot. Guard cam 70 restricts the uncontrolled upward movement of needles from the raise and placer cams.

While the invention has been described in its preferred form it is to be understood that the words which have been used are words of description rather than of limitation, and that changes within the purview of the appended claims may be made without departing from the true scope and spirit of the invention, bearing in mind that the key to the invention is the use, in a pattern wheel circular knitting machine, of one needle butt for actuation only by cams and the use of a second needle butt for actuation only by pattern wheels.

Having thus set forth the nature of this invention, what I claim herein is:

1. A circular knitting machine of the type having a cylinder provided with peripheral slots for accommodating knitting instrumentalities, and a plurality of relatively rotatable cam sections cooperative with said cylinder, at least some adjacent cam sections (10) being provided with respective pattern wheels (24), each of said pattern wheels being of the type having its plane of rotation at an angle (a) with respect to the direction of relative cylinder travel and being provided with skewed jack accommodating slots for use in raising certain of said knitting instrumentalities of said cylinder to various predetermined heights, said machines being characterized in that:

(a) at least some of said knitting instrumentalities are provided with first and second butts,

(b) said adjacent cam sections (10) with pattern wheels (24) are further provided with a raise cam, a stitch cam, a placer cam between the raise and stitch cam underlying an etfective portion of the pattern wheel of the cam section, and a guard cam disposed to restrict the upward movement of knitting instrumentalities from the raise cam and placer cam, the pattern wheels of said adjacent cam sections being closely nested with a non-working portion of the pattern wheel of one cam section overlying the plane of a working portion of the stitch cam of the adjacent cam section encountered by the knitting instrumentalities before entering said one cam section,

(c) each of the raise, placer and stich cams being disposed for cooperation only with said first butt of each of those knitting instrumentalities with first and second butts, and each of said pattern wheels being disposed for cooperation only with said second butt of each of said knitting instrumentalities with first and second butts.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said cam sections provided with pattern wheels has its raise cam at an angle (B) with respect to the direction of relative cylinder travel, such angle (5) being greater than the raise angles (a) of the pattern wheels.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each pattern wheel of one cam section having a non-working wheel portion overlying the plane of a working portion of the stitch cam of the adjacent cam section encountered by knitting instrumentalities before entering said one cam section extends into a slot in said adjacent cam section.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said placer cams for at least some of said cam sections with pattern yvheels are adjustable, such cams being adapted for vertical positioning.

5. Apparatus for use in controlling the needles of a circular knitting machine, which needles are provided with lower and upper butts comprising (a) a cam section block (10) for supporting needle actuating cams,

(b) a slotted pattern wheel angularly disposed relative to the vertical axis of such section block (10) and adapted to have its periphery cooperate with only the upper butts of said needles for selectively raising same, said pattern wheel having a non-working portion extending beyond said cam section block (10) to overlie the plane of the working portion of a stitch cam on another cam section :block when such another cam section block is adjacent the first mentioned cam section block (10) and in a position for cams thereon to actuate the needles in advance of cams on the first mentioned cam section block (10),

(c) a raise cam for the cam section block (10) adapted to cooperate with only the lower butts of said needles and being disposed in advance of the effective periphery of said pattern wheel in the direction of relative needle travel,

((1) a stitch cam for the cam section block (10) adapted to engage onlysaid lower needle butts to lower same to set stitches selected by said pattern wheel, a placer cam for the cam section block (10) between the raise cam and stitch cam, said placer cam being adapted to engage only said lower needle butts, and

(e) a guard cam for the cam section block (10) disposed to restrict the upward movement of knitting needles from the raise cam and placer cam.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said placer cam is adapted for vertical positioning relative to said pattern wheel.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said stitch cams for at least some of said cam sections with pattern wheels are adjustable, such cams being adapted for planar movement whereby the length of stitches producible by the engagement of knitting instrumentalities with the cams may be changed.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said stitch cam for said cam section block 10) is adjustable, such cam being adapted for planar movement whereby the length of stitches producible by the engagement of the needles with the cam may be changed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 868,276 10/ 1907 Klemm 66-38 XR 1,925,450 9/ 1933 Levin. 2,068,179 1/ 1937 Horrocks 66-50 2,124,304 7/1938 Lombardi 66-25 3,335,581 8/1967 Pernick 6650 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,201,220 7/ 1959 France.

510 1915 Great Britain.

WILLIAM CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 6654 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,513,666 May 26, 1970 Lester Mishcon It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3, lines 14 and 15, "The works 18 (A through E). The works" should read The forks line 45, "resspective" should read respective line 50, "needle" should read needles Column 4, lines 1 to 4, cancel "Referring for example, to section 10B of FIG. 1, as representative slot 42 (A through E) of its respective cam sections 10 for stitch length determining purposes." Column 5, lines 15, 16, 25 and 26, cancel "(l0)" and "(24)", each occurrence.

Signed and sealed this 5th day of January 1971.

(SEAL) At't'st:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR.

Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

